05/12/2025
I hope you are having a lovely day. I am Esther Fraser, your Iowa Assembly of AST Treasure since 2023 and Board Member since 2019. I moved to Iowa 18 years ago because my husband took a job at Principal Financial. Once we came to Iowa, I started to pursue various jobs, unsure of what I wanted to do. I had a Bachelors in political science and I had already attempted to break into city and state politics in Indiana. The result was someone else got my job due to nepotism. It didn’t seem worthwhile anymore and I developed an interest in healthcare. After a few years working as a home health aid and a hospital CNA I decided to go back to school and go for my Master’s as a Physician Assistant. I did well with my classes which included statistics and organic chemistry. But when it came time to apply to programs I was unable to get past the first interview.
I had a few short months to decide if I would apply all over again to PA schools or do something different. In that moment, I looked up possible career choices and found something called “Surgical Technology.” I found a local program at Des Moines Area Community College and called the director. Her name is Betty Baker. She told me they only take 16 students. There were 15 seats taken and between myself and one other, two contenders for the final seat. I pulled out all the stops to get my requirements sent in and I ended up being the 16th person in the class that would graduate in 2014. The rest, as they say, is history.
I started out with my CST in a small orthopedic hospital. I learned ortho spine and total joints. I enjoyed everything I learned there. But it wasn’t my forever home. After 4 years I took a job at a surgery center. From there I learned to scrub eyeballs – both cataracts and retina. It was incredible going from the total joints and joint revisions to the microsurgery side of things. I realized that I never have to stop learning in the field of surgical technology. After 4 years at the surgery center I heard about a teaching job at the same place I earned my Surgical Technology diploma. I applied, assuming they would pick someone else. And they ended up offering me the instructor job. I accepted the offer and became a college professor. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. I loved teaching and reaching the next generations of surgical techs. Three years in I found out that DMACC wanted to have what we would call RIF (reduction in force) layoffs. I was included in the cut. I have put so much into teaching and networking in my area. I will always be there for my students and clinical sites. But I have had to accept the situation since it was my only option. I have had to find a way to move forward with my career. I love surgical technology and nothing will stop me from growing as I continue with my life work.
During my last year at DMACC I had begun scrubbing trauma on the weekends and evenings at a local main OR. I decided that, in the face of RIF, the best option would be to take full time work at the hospital and continue to expand my experience.
Through all these changes, I have not once regretted the choices I have made or had to make. I love being a surgical technologist. I love teaching. I love working in the trauma OR. My next step will be going back to school to get my First Assist. I am stepping into the unknown again and I am ready to take on the fun and the difficult just as I always have.
In between all of the above, I have two beautiful children and a wonderful husband. My oldest is 13 and an artist in many realms including drawing and acting. My youngest has autism and epilepsy and every day manages to show me an imaginative world I didn’t know existed. I spend my free time with family. I read, write, garden, go to Renn Faires, and do martial arts. Life is about community and love – both for my work and for my home.
